Baseball shoe overlay protector



Marh 3, 1970 W. E. LYMAN BASEBALL suon ovERLAY rno'rEcToR Filed July 31. 1968 United States Patent O 3,497,972 BASEBALL SHOE OVERLAY 'PROTECTOR Walter E. Lyman, P.O. Box 455, Starkville, Miss. 39759 Filed July 31, 1968, Ser. No. 748,989 Int. Cl. A43b 5/00; A43c 13/14 U.S. Cl. 36--72 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An overlay for the forward portion of a basebal'l pitchers shoe is disclosed having a bottom edge which extends from the toe of the shoe around the inside edge of the shoe to a point opposite the ball of the foot and an upper edge which extends over the toe portion of the shoe to an eyelet of the shoe. The overlay is secured to the shoe by stitching the bottom edge of the overlay to the top surface of the Welt, and securing the top edge of the overlay across the upper of the shoe by threading a shoe lace through an eyelet near the uppermost part of the overlay.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of invention The invention relates to foot coverings which are generally provided with reinforced surfaces, Still more particularly, the invention relates to a covering to protect a baseball pitchers shoe during use, including a reinforced overlay covering for a shoe. The overlay extends over that portion of the shoe which covers the toes and forward instep area of the wearers foot.

Description of prior art Persons familiar with the motion of a baseball pitcher in delivery of a pitch will recognize the problems and expense caused by excessive wear on the front and upper inside surfaces of a baseball pitchers shoe. In the delivery of a baseball, the pitcher faces the plate and as he prepares to deliver the ball, his lead foot is conventionally positioned over the pitching rubber with the toe and inside edge of the shoe directed downward over the front edge of the rubber- As the delivery motion is carried out the toe and inside edge of the shoe of the lead foot are dug into the ground in front of the rubber so as to brace the bottom of the foot axially against the rubber. The follow-through motion of the delivery causes the inside surface of the upper shoe on the bracing foot to be dragged in the dirt, thus subjecting not only the toe of the shoe but also the inside upper portion of the toe of the shoe to excessive grinding wear.

Efforts to protect the shoe from this terrific strain and abuse experienced in all ytype of soil and under the wide variety of pitching mound conditions have met only with limited success. Attempts include the use of protector overlays and the plates. One example of a prior toe plate utilizes a metallic lower portion and an upper leather portion having a lacing eyelet therethrough. Such a shoe protector not only adds weight but reduces the flexibility of the pitcher shoe thus reducing not only its comfort but its effectiveness.

Another overlay protector calls for stitching across the top of the shoe, thereby weakening the upper leather by needle perforations. Also, this overlay is shown to extend over the edge of the sole of the shoe and is sewn to the bottom, thereby creating an unsatisfactory extra layer which may be felt by the pitcher as pressure is placed upon the bottom of the foot in the pitching motion.

Still another shoe top protector disclosure teaches fitting a rubberized closure about the toe of the foot so as to cover the greater portion of the upper toe as well 3,497,972 Patented Mar. 3, 1970 f. ICC

as the forward sole of the shoe. In addition to the reduction of flexibility of the shoe because of the additional layer across the bottom, the movement and comfort of the foot within the shoe may be hampered because the entire toe portion is enclosed. The preferred mode of that disclosure calls for holding the protector in place by elasticity, thus apparently crimping the shoe and foot.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an overlay to protect and reinforce the inside edge and upper of a baseball pitchers shoe Without detracting from the comfort, liexibility, utility, or appearance of the shoe,

In accordance with the principles of the present invention, this result is achieved by utilizing an overlay which extends only over that portion of the shoe which is actually subject to abuse. Thus, the overlay extends both along the top of the welt from the toe of the shoe to a point along the inside edge of the shoe generally opposite the ball of the foot upward from the welt of the shoe to the top of the instep.

The overlay has therein a channel or groove which is outwardly disposed and is adapted to extend along the edge of the overlay which is secured to the top of the welt. The bottom wall of the groove serves to partition the groove from the welt. When the overlay is placed in a position to be stitched to the welt and sole, this partition covers the stitching holding the welt and sole together and provides a surface for stitching the overlay to the welt and sole. By abutting the bottom edge of the overlay against the top edge of the welt, awkward overlapping beneath the edge of the sole which may cause irritation to the pitchers foot is eliminated.

The overlay is held by molded contour over the upper by means of the normal lacing of the shoe whereby the lace is passed through an eyelet near the uppermost point of the overlay. The elimination of awkward overlapping coupled with the contour fit of the overlay and the possibility of adjustment by lacing results in a protector which not only provides full protection against wear Without the wearers loss of mobility but also helps to brace the pitchers foot during delivery.

An additional feature realized by the stitching of the overlay to the welt and sole is that no threads are required to be woven into the upper. This adds life to the shoe because such stitching causes the upper to be weakened by the stitching perforation. Stitching through the sole and welt merely reinforces the sole and welt bind and makes it possible to use a succession of overlays discarding one and replacing it with another when the first is worn, without detracting from comfort or longevity of the shoe itself.

It is the further object of the present invention to provide an overlay protector for a baseball pitchers shoe which is inexpensive to manufacture and which can be quickly and easily applied to the shoe.

Significant economies of manufacture and application of the present invention are realized as the direct result of the simplicity of design of the overlay and the availability of machine stitching. The groove and abutting placement of the overlay on top of the Welt makes machine stitching ipossible. The availability of machine stitching results in low cost mass production of the invention and simple replacement of worn overlays. It can be easily seen that such replacement is more easily accomplished than having a shoe resoled.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention includes a flexible overlay protector for a baseball shoe which is adapted to conform to and lay against the upper and be secured thereon by stitching the bottom end of the overlay to the top of the welt and threading a shoe lace through an eyelet in the upper portion of the overlay to draw it against the shoe by normal lacing. The invention further includes a channel or groove in the overlay protector near the bottom end of the overlay, the b-ottom wall of which provides a surface through which the stitching may be passed.

The invention will be understood more readily by reference to the accompanying drawings; however these drawings are intended to illustrate the invention and are not to be construed to limit the scope of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the protector overlay pattern.

FIGURE 2 is a top elevational view of the protector overlay secured on a baseball shoe.

FIGURE 3 is a cross sectional View along line 3-3 in -FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 4 is a cross sectional view along line 4-4 in FIGURE 2.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, in FIGURE l the pattern for an overlay protector 1t) is illustrated embodying the principles of the present invention. The overlay protector is made of leather or an equivalent flexible material. It is preferred that a single layered piece of leather be used. The overlay has an inner surface, which is adapted to conform to the contour of the outer surface of a baseball shoe upper 11, and an opposite outer lwearing surface. The periphery of the overlay 10 is generally defined by a lower edge 12 having a surface 14 for abutting a welt of a baseball shoe and an upper edge 1-6 having a contour which enables the shoe to ex in the proper manner when the overlay protector is in place.

FIGURES 2, 3 and 4 illustrate the protector overlay positioned upon a conventional baseball shoe S having triangularly arranged spiked plates 17, a sole 18, and a welt 20. An inner sole 22 in the shoe is shown to overlap the upper 11. The sole and welt are stitched together by stitching 24. The upper 11 and the inner sole are stitched or otherwise attached to the sole and welt in a similarly conventional manner. The spikes are secured to the sole by vscrews 26 or similar means.

The lower edge 12 is adapted to be positioned adjacent the junction between the welt and the upper 11. When the overlay is so positioned, the surface 14 along the lower edge 12 of the overlay protector contacts the top peripheral surface 30 of the welt 20 from a point 34 located along the outside edge of the shoe at the toe to a point 36 coinciding with the ball of the wearers foot and located along the inside edge of the shoe. Edge 16 extends in a convex manner from point 34 across the toe of the upper to a midportion of the toe. At the midportion of the toe, the curvature of edge 16 changes to concave with the edge extending in a concave manner from the midportion of the toe to a point adjacent the eyelets of the shoe wherein the curvature of edge 16 again changes to convex thereby forming a protruding portion overlapping at least one of the eyelets of the shoe. From the eyelets, the edge lr6 extends down along the inside of the shoe to point 36 of the welt. Thus, it can be seen that the overlay protector 10 is cut so that the overlay will conform to the contour of the shoe when the forward tip 32 of the overlay is approximately aligned with point 34 of the toe and that the cut-out portion of overlay 10, where edge 16 is concave, enables the shoe to flex in a normal manner.

The overlay may be used by either a right handed or left handed pitcher. A right handed pitcher uses his right foot to brace his pitching motion and therefore the overlay would be located on the inside and upper portion of the right foot. A left handed pitcher would of course wear the overlay on the inside and upper portion of his left foot. Although the overlay, as shown in Figure 1, is grooved for application to a left shoe, the overlay can tbe made for a right shoe merely by grooving the opposite side of the overlay.

'FIGURE 3 shows a cross sectional view of the overlay protector. It can be seen that the overlay has la channel or lgroove 38 thereabout having an upper wall 43 and a lower wall 44 which is the upper surface of a partition or rib 40 which separates the groove from the welt. The groove is disposed outwardly and positioned adjacent the junction between the welt 20 and the upper :1|1.

After the overlay has ben placed upon rthe shoe so that the lower wall 44 of the groove 38 is located over the welt, it is secured along the lower edge 12 by stitching 46. While the overlay may be stitched to the upper by passing thread through rear Wall 37 of groove 38 into fthe upper, this causes a weakening of the mate-rial in the upper by the needle perforations. Howe-ver, by stitching downward through the heavy leather of the welt and sole, no damage is incurred and, in fact, such threading lends reinforcement Kto the sole rand Welt bind. Furthermore, when it is desirous to remove the overlay and replace it with another one, the upper is not weakened or destroyed by additional perforations. According to the preferred mode, even though perforations are left in the lsole and welt when an overlay is replaced, the reinforcing stitch of the replacement overlay more than compensates for the i evakened condition for the kweltand Isole.

The overlay protector is held in place on the upper portion of the shoe by lacing 49 which is threaded through an eyelet 50 in the uppermost part of the protector. The eyelet 50 is adapted to be aligned with eyelet A of the shoe so that when the lacing 49 is drawn through eyelet A and eyelet 50 and `the shoe is laced up, the overlay is drawn taut and caused lto lie closely above the Iforward Iportion of the upper.

While the eyelet 50 is designed to align with eyelet A in shoe S, such positioning is not critical. The number and location of eyelets in the protector 10 can be varied. Thus, it would be within the scope of the invention to extend the protector 10 to cover eyelets A and B, or A and C, to align with respective additional eyelets in protector .10 (not shown). Also, should the protector stretch in damp Weather or due to perspiration it would be possible to compensate for stretching by imeans of lacing 49. For instance, the shoelace 49 may be extended through eyelet 50 to com-municate directly with eyelet C or some other eyelet further disposed from the eyelet 50 so as to create an extended distance over which the overlay may he drawn. It will be noted however that while such lacing means are feasible, it is preferred that the molded contour be uti- :lized as fully as practical.

Various materials may be used to constitute the overlay. The preferred material is prime, full grain, harness leather. It provides maximum protection and comfort. It has been found preferable to use Ia four i-ron weight leather, approximately three-eights of an inch thick near the lower edge, and to taper the leather upward to two iron weight having a .thickness of approximately one-eighth of 1an inch at the top of the overlay. For the best results, the leather `should be skivered land cut specifically for each size shoe.

Obviously many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in the light of @the above teachings. It is therefore -to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims, the infvention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described.

What is claimed is:

1. A flexible overlay protector for preventing Wear of the toe and the inside forward instep area of a baseball shoe comprising:

at least one piece of material, Isaid piece of material being defined by rst and second edges having coterlminous ends;

said rst edge having a generally convex curvature and being adapted to abut an upper surface of a shoe welt which extends peripherally beyond a junction of said welt and an upper of said shoe, and said first edge being adapted to extend from a point on said welt located on an outside edge of said shoe at the toe of said shoe to -a point On an ins-ide edge of said lshoe approximately opposite a ball portion of s'aid shoe;

said material having Ia lgroove in an outwardly disposed surface, said groove extending substantially parallel to said iirst edge, land said groove and said first edge rdening therebetween -a rib;

-said trib being adapted to cover stitching securing said `welt to `the sole o said -shoe and said rib being adapted to receive stitching therethrough whereby said protector can be -sewn t said welt and sole;

said second edge having terminal portions with generally convex curvatures, said end portions of said second edge being joined by an intermediate portion of said second edge having a generally conc-ave curvature and said second edge of said material being adapted to extend upwardly and `rearwardly -from one end of said rst edge across s-aid toe and forward instep `area of said shoe to the other end of said lfirst edge whereby said protector is adapted to cover |a portion of said toe, a por-tion of s-aid inside -forward instep area and lat least one shoelace eyelet of said shoe; and

said flexible material having at least one overl-ay eyelet therein adjacent said second edge within an area of said material defined by one of said convex terminal edge portions of said second edge, said overlay eyelet being adapted to be aligned Wit-h at least one shoe- =lace eyelet of vsaid shoe whereby a lace of said shoe said piece of material is a single layer piece of leather.

3. An overlay protector as claimed in claim 2 wherein said material is skivered leather being tapered -fro-m greater thickness Ialong said first edge to a lesser thickness at said eyelet.

4. An overlay protector as claimed in claim 1 wherein said groove is rectangular in cross section and has an upper wall, a lower wall and :a Irear wall.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,383,905 7/192'1 Bunnell et al. 36--72 1,525,581 2/192/5 Golden.

1,626,426 4/ 1927 Piotrowski 36--77 1,677,370 7/192-8 lRoewade -36-77 X 2,864,180 12/1958 IMontgomery 36--72 ALFRED R. GUEST, Primary Examiner U.S. C1. X.R. 

